(CNN) — Police in Germany have launched a criminal investigation into Roger Waters, the co-founder of Pink Floyd, after he appeared dressed in a costume resembling a Nazi uniform during two concerts in Berlin last week.
Waters was wearing the costume while performing from Pink Floyd’s 1979 concept album “The Wall,” in which the album’s protagonist hallucinates that he is a fascist dictator. The satirical routine has been a part of Waters’ solo shows for at least 30 years, including a famous live performance of the album in Berlin in 1990. This week appears to be the first time the German government has launched a criminal investigation following his performance, however.
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Berlin police spokeswoman Jennifer Bähle confirmed to CNN Friday that Waters is being investigated for suspected incitement during two concerts in the city last week, on May 17 and 18. ”We have received information from the public including pictures and videos which according to the external appearance are suitable for fulfilling the offense of incitement to hatred,” she said.
Roger Waters performs live on stage during a concert at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin on May 17.
”The State Security Department at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office has initiated a criminal investigation procedure regarding the suspicion of incitement of the people (140 Paragraph 4 of the German criminal Code),” a statement by Berlin police sent to CNN reads.
”The context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace,” the statement went on to say.
”After the conclusion of the investigation, the case will be forwarded to the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office for legal assessment,” the police statement ended.
In a statement posted to Facebook dated May 20, Waters criticized the German Bundestag’s 2019 vote to designate the pro-Palestinian “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” (BDS) movement as antisemitic. Waters has been a frequent proponent of the BDS movement, and a vocal critic of the Israeli state’s treatment of Palestinian people.
A video posted and shared on social media from Waters’ performance at the Mercedes-Benz Arena last week shows the musician in a costume with a red armband emblazoned with two crossed hammers – an image from Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall” that has been appropriated by racist skinhead groups, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The video shows Waters pretending to shoot into the crowd with a prop machine gun. According to the Berlin police, this depiction is likely to glorify the rule of the National Socialists.
The performances in Germany were the subject of profound controversy before Waters arrived. He has consistently denied that he is antisemitic. In his May 20 statement, the singer said he visited the graves of anti-Nazi activists Sophie and Hans Scholl while on tour in Munich last week.
Waters is scheduled to perform in Frankfurt on Sunday.
City authorities in Frankfurt demanded that the venue cancel his concert there, but according to a report in The Guardian, a German court ruled in April that while his performance uses “symbolism manifestly based on that of the National Socialist regime,” the musician’s work “did not glorify or relativize the crimes of the Nazis or identify with Nazi racist ideology.”
Frankfurt’s Jewish community has organized a protest against his upcoming performance. ”On this day, the concert by the musician Roger Waters known for his anti-Semitic stage shows and statements, will take place. We do not want to stand by idly when a well-known anti-Semite and conspiracy theorist is given a stage in Frankfurt, ” the Jewish community said in a statement on Instagram.
According to Waters’ show schedule, he is also expected to perform in a series of concerts in the UK next week, including in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester.
In an interview with podcaster Katie Halper posted online on May 6, Waters said: “I can be allowed to do a show because it’s theater darling. The idea that no one can dress up in a f**king Nazi uniform ever, to do anything, in a theater or a film, is ludicrous, obviously.”
His comments came shortly after he won a legal battle to revoke Frankfurt city council’s ban on his upcoming concert.
“You don’t dress up like him, in a pro-Himmler or pro-Nazi way,” said Halper. “It’s a scathing critique, you are playing a villainous character.”
“It’s a parody,” Waters replied.
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Photos: Pink Floyd through the years
In this file photo dated March 3, 1967, members of the rock band Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, left, Nick Mason, second from left, Syd Barrett, second from right, and Richard Wright, right, leap from the steps of EMI House in London.
British pop star David Gilmour of the Pink Floyd group, left, waves to the public during the live concert of the group in Nantes, Western France on Friday, June 11, 1988. Next to him is percussionist Gary Wallis. (AP Photo/Adeline Bommart)
In this file photo from 1988, members of the rock group Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, left, Nick Mason, center, and Richard Wright, right, are seen in New York, USA.
Cheering fans are crowd the front of the stage as British rock band Pink Floyd gives an open air concert in front of the Reichstag (seen in the right corner behind the stage) in West Berlin, West Germany, June 17, 1988. An estimated 30,000 fans attended the concert. (AP Photo/Andreas Schoelzel)
Pink Floyd lead vocalist/guitarist David Gilmour opens their world tour at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami on Wednesday, March 30, 1994. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Pink Floyd lead vocalist David Gilmour sings from the group’s new album “Division Bell,” at the opening of their World Tour at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami on Wednesday, March 30, 1994. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
FILE This is a Saturday July 2, 2005 file photo of Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmore, left, and Roger Waters as they perform at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
In this July 2, 2005 file photo, Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmore, left, Roger Waters, second left, Nick Mason, second right, and Rick Wright, appear on stage at the end of their set at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London. The band reunited for a global audience performing a four-song set. Waters left the band in 1985 and Wright passed away in 2008. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
British rock musician and Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters performs during a concert at the Arab-Jewish coexistence village of Neve Shalom, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Thursday June 22, 2006. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)
Members of Pink Floyd, David Gilmour, center, Nick Mason, right, and Rick Wright, left, arrive for the screening of the group's new DVD at a cinema in central London's Leicester Square, Monday July 3, 2006. The 'Pulse' DVD of their 1994 concert, released on July 10, features the first ever audiovisual live performance of 'The Dark Side Of The Moon' album. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Former British Pink Floyd band member David Gilmour relaxes aboard his studio boat the 'Astoria' on the River Thames in London, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
David Gilmour performs in the ancient roman amphitheater of the Pompeii archeological site, Italy, Thursday, July 7, 2016. Gilmour is performing in the ancient amphitheater 45 years after he played here with the Pink Floyd. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
British musician Nick Mason of Pink Floyd poses for photographers to announce the Pink Floyd Exhibition, with the aid of an inflatable flying pig, at the V&A museum in London, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. Inflatable flying pigs were one of the staple props of the band's live shows. (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Nick Mason, the drummer from British rock band Pink Floyd, poses for photographers with an Abbey Road EMI TG12345 MKIV recording console due to be auctioned, at Bonhams in London, Monday, March 20, 2017. The console used to record Pink Floyd's album 'Dark Side of the Moon', which was released in 1973, is estimated to fetch a six-figure sum at a "TCM Presents...Rock and Roll Through the Lens" sale held by Bonhams in New York on March 27. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
The inflatable pig above Battersea power station is photographed among art for the Pink Floyd exhibition 'Their Mortal Remains' at the V&A museum in west London, Tuesday, May 9, 2017, an immersive, experimental journey through Pink Floyd's world of over 350 objects and artefacts from the band. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the band's first album, 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' and officially opens to the public on 13 May (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Mannequins in 'a lightbulb suit' are photographed in front of a 'Learning to Fly' display at the Pink Floyd exhibition 'Their Mortal Remains' at the V&A museum in west London, Tuesday, May 9, 2017, an immersive, experimental journey through Pink Floyd's world of over 350 objects and artefacts from the band. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the band's first album, 'The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn' and officially opens to the public on 13 May (Photo by Joel Ryan/Invision/AP)
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd performs at Infinite Energy Arena on Sunday, July 16, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo by Robb Cohen/Invision/AP)
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and Nick Mason pose for photographers during a press conference to present "The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains", in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The exhibition will run from the Jan. 19 to April 29. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A visitor admires an installation part of the Pink Floyd Exhibition: "Their Mortal Remains", in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The exhibition will run from the Jan. 19 to April 29. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Journalists film with their cameras an installation part of the Pink Floyd Exhibition: "Their Mortal Remains", in Rome, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018. The exhibition will run from the Jan. 19 to April 29. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Former member of Pink Floyd, British singer and songwriter Roger Waters performs during his concert of the Us+Them tour in Rome's Circus Maximus, Saturday, July 14, 2018. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
A technician arranges guitars from the collection of David Gilmour, guitarist, singer and songwriter of Pink Floyd, during a press opportunity at Christie's auction rooms in London, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
British musician Roger Waters, who is one of the founding members of the band 'Pink Floyd', poses for photographs backdropped by an inflatable pig and the Battersea Power Station to promote his participation in the "free Assange" protest that takes place on Saturday, in London, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
